Resonance Effect: Vigilante Payroll
by Jknight3135
Summary: The second book in the 'Resonance Effect' Series. Follow our intrepid self inserting hero Jonathon Knight to Omega for the two year interim between the first and second game, How will knight help Garrus fight the veritable war between the mercenary groups? How will he adjust to his 'new appendage' and most importantly find out why none of the buildings have windows!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm BAAAAAACK.**

**A short break was good, edited and reposted the first nine chapters, accidentally had two chapter twos for a while. Any who here we are with book two It's a bit short but I suppose first chapter kind of always is. And No I didn't 'Steal' Weaver from MtM if you look in the shadow brokers dossiers it has the names of all Garrus's squad, some of which I will use and some of which I'll completely make my own characters, partially because I'll picture MtM characters if I did use them. **

**On with the Show!**

* * *

Resonance Effect Book Two: Vigilante Payroll

Chapter 1: Rise of an Empire

The ride to the base is fairly long, it feels like we've traveled to the edge of the station. There is a lot more machinery than people or structures out here. When we do arrive I can see we are indeed at the very edge of the station, the back wall of the building is built into the rock of the asteroid. The base looks the same as it did in the game, a two story building with open faces connected by one long bridge.

Garrus takes the car under the bridge into a garage beneath the base. As I step out I recognize the area from the game, it was one of the areas you had to close the shutters in, turns out that shutter is the garage door. But as I look around the area is nearly empty a few crates sit around, and the car we just got out of is the only vehicle.

"So how many people have you got on your team so far?" I ask following Garrus into the base.

"With you in we'll have a total of six people."

I nod, makes sense he hasn't been here long so he won't have picked up many people yet. I follow him up the stairs and we come out of a door beneath another staircase. This is the main floor, I can see two people sitting on couches in the living area, beyond that I can see an Asari in a small kitchen area. When they hear Garrus and I approaching the people on the couches turn towards us.

"Everyone this is Jonathon Knight, he's going to be joining us on our little crusade." Garrus says then he turns to me. "Go ahead and introduce yourself, I'll take your stuff to the armory."

"Alright, thanks." I say handing my stuff to him.

When I look back one of the people who had been sitting on the couch has gotten up and is walking towards me, a Batarian.

He offers his hand. "Kullan Dakar, most people just call me Dak though." He says in the typical low Batarian voice.

I shake his hand. "Alright Dak, nice to meet you."

He starts a bit when I shake his hand. I bring my right hand up and flex the mechanical appendage.

"A gift from Soverighn."

He nods. "Right Garrus told us about that, so you do know Garrus from before right? When he was with Shepard?"

"Yeah, we worked together on Shepard's ground team."

"Ground team? I thought he said you we're a weapons and armor expert."

"Well yeah I am, I'm a fighter too though, primarily a marksman role."

He nods again. "Well good not sure I would trust someone to make my gear if they didn't know how to use it."

I chuckle. "Yeah, what about you though, you have a specialty? Or just a beef with the mercs?"

He chuckles, a deep rumbling chuckle. "Both, I'm an explosives expert."

"Good, because Garrus will tell you my motto with explosives is 'Use a bunch and see what happens' it'll be nice to have someone who knows what they're doing."

He chuckles again. "Alright we I'll see you around Jon."

I nod before he walks off. Well he seems nice, I haven't met many Batarians, but I know they aren't typically nice to humans, or very inclined to chuckle.

Anyway I continue over to the common area, to the Turian sitting on the couch. He seems to have noticed me and puts down the datapad he was reading, and standing up.

He offers his hand. "Sivan Alturus."

I shake his hand, he briefly looks at my synthetic hand before looking back to me.

"I almost didn't believe Garrus when he said you had a prosthetic made from a Geth arm."

He speaks in a very calm voice for a Turian, less flange than Garrus, his skin is a slightly olive green that I've occasionally seen with some Turians, and he has black face paint. The most striking thing about him though is that we're almost the same height, obviously he is still taller, but he is one of the shortest Turians, I've ever seen. Even his build is slimmer than any male Turian I've ever seen, the females tend to be slimmer and shorter, but he has a normal fringe and back ridge, something that is played down on the female side of the species.

"Jonathon Knight" I reply. "Trust me it wasn't my choice to get this, but I figure now that I've got it might as well make the most of it."

His mandibles flare in amusement. "Hmm, well I'm the team's infiltrator, from the sound of it we'll probably be working together quite often."

"Yeah Garrus was never very good at sneaking." I hear a derisive snort surely from Garrus. "and I'm _almost _as good a shot." I finish looking over to Garrus with a 'Happy now?' look. He nods and goes up the stairs.

Sivan chuckles. "You two are obviously pretty good friends."

"Yeah, we we're the team's top marksmen, and gun experts so we talked quite a bit. I actually lived with him for a while afterward, before he came here."

"Hmmm, he said you we're good with weapons and armor, have to see what you can do for stealth equipment."

"He seems to have told you guys quite a lot about me…"

"I think he expected you would join up, at least that's the way I figure." He says shrugging.

"I kind of knew I was coming as soon as he asked, just needed to think about it."

"I can understand that, well tell me when you get your stuff set up and I'll bring you my equipment." He takes a few steps away. "Spirits know it could use some proper attention."

I chuckle. "Alright, see you around then."

He nods, grabbing his data pad and sitting back down. I head over to the Kitchen where I saw the Asari. After a brief search I find her sitting at a table eating.

"Mind if I have a seat?" I ask walking up.

She shrugs. "You're the one Garrus told us about right?"

I sit down across from her. "Jonathon Knight, yeah he seems to have told everyone all about me."

"Quite a bit, kind of interested to see how you'll do. My names Rellan."

"Nice to meet you."

"We'll see if you keep that opinion." She says. "I've spent most of my life on Omega, not really a 'people person'."

"Eh, I'm not one to judge."

"Right, you're supposed to be the equipment guy right, ever work with amps before?"

"A bit, I tinkered with a few during my time on the Normandy, I'll see what I can do."

She nods. "Eh that's better than I hoped." She gets up and dumps her garbage. "See you later then."

I get up and start walking over to the stairs. Rellan seems a bit indifferent, not necessarily unfriendly, but we'll see. I get to the second story and look around, there's another small common area up here, with the bunks farther off to the right. Behind me down a short hallway is Garrus's massive room. There is a Salarian sitting on one of the beds.

He looks over to me and stands up. I walk over to him.

"You must be the new guy Garrus mentioned, names Weaver."

"Yeah, Jonathon Knight."

"I'm the designated driver, I can drive or fly just about anything with an engine." He scowls after a second. "Not that there's anything much here to drive."

"Yeah I don't really want to fly into a mission in a car, we're gunna need a shuttle."

"Yeah, could probably use a truck too, in case we need to move something big." He says hand on his chin in thought.

"Are you a mechanic as well?"

"Of a sort, I should be able to keep whatever we have flying but, I only know field repairs."

I nod. "Well I should be able to help some, I'm good with most tech."

"I can see that, interesting prosthetic you have."

I lift my hand and examine it. "Yeah, it was pretty easy to modify a Geth arm to work as a prosthetic."

"Why not just get a normal prosthetic?"

"Because I'm not a normal person." I reply with a smirk, there's truth in that lie.

"I believe that's a perquisite for getting on this squad." That gets a chuckle from me.

"Indeed, well I'll see you around." He just nods turning back to his bunk.

* * *

I start to walk away, but stop to look out the window. The vastness of Omega stretches out before me, mostly dark until the area near afterlife, distant sounds of gunfire can be occasionally picked up, but the base is pretty secluded way out here. The air isn't as thick out here either which is good, I have to keep reminding myself that this is a station built on an asteroid, although I have found out that's why most building don't have windows, although 'building' is a relative term, most structures are built into each other and aren't standalone structures. But I have to go talk to Garrus.

I step away from the window and head downstairs to the room Garrus took my stuff too. He is in the common area and joins me as I walk through. Coming into the room I look around, It's about as large as Garrus's room upstairs, but there are a few benches and some machinery occupying this end of the room. The far end has several lockers, a desk and a bed, I turn to Garrus.

"I'll be sleeping here then?" I ask one eyebrow raised.

He shrugs. "If you want to, you could claim a bunk upstairs."

I smirk. "Nah, I'll take a bed over a bunk."

"Thought so"

He closes the door and leans up against the wall. "Really Jon, I'm glad you're here, I could use your help."

I lean up against a workbench. "Yeah? I'll do whatever you need, you're in charge right?"

"Actually, I wanted you to be my second." He says look me straight in the face.

"Why?" I ask one eyebrow raised.

"I might be better at leading a ground team, and I've got a mind for criminals, but you, you know how to fight a war, it's not quite the same, but it's close."

I nod. "Well, what have you been doing so far, as far as missions go?"

"Nothing big, killing a few Lieutenants, destroying a few stashes, just making a name for ourselves."

"That's a good start." I think for a second. "The most important things in any war are, information, and resources."

He nods understanding.

"We should start investigating into the mercs higher ups, see who might part with some information given the right incentives." I says starting to pace back and forth.

"We don't have the money for bribes right now." Garrus says.

"I figured, but we should know who is likely to accept a bribe should we need too." I stop for a moment and wave my hand. "Resources, that's the next thing, credits, tech, guns, ammo, vehicles, food, and water. We should be able to steal most of that from the mercs."

"So what do you think our next step should be?"

"Getting a shuttle, we'll need one for deployment, pick ups, and ferrying supplies." I think for a second. "The mercs likely have vehicle depots, chopshops, mechanics, storage, we should find one and raid it, steal a shuttle and some choice equipment."

"They won't be expecting an attack on a vehicle depot, should be lightly guarded." Garrus replies.

"Exactly, should be an Eclipse depot too, they'll have the best tech."

"Alright, so that's step one, how should we go about getting information?"

"Omega is a rats nest, finding reliable sources is going to be difficult, our best info right now, will come from observation."

He nods again, I can see the gears churning in his head. "Ok, Sivan, you and me are best suited for that kind of job."

"Right, if we can find a good depot, we should be able to get a shuttle and equipment to keep it running, maybe even some equipment I could use in here."

"Rellan knows Omega best, I'll ask her if she can think of any likely places." He waits a moment. "Speaking of which, what do you think of the squad so far?"

"Dak seems friendly, Sivan seemed like a nice guy as well. Rellan seemed more indifferent, but I guess we'll see, and Weaver was very… professional."

He chuckles a little. "Yeah, that's about what I thought." He pushes off the wall. "Well I've got a depot to find, I'll tell you if I need you for something."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do here, go over weapons and armor. The usual."

He nods. "Good to have you back Jon."

"Good to be back."

* * *

**A/N: Well there you go, hope you like it.**

***NOTE IMPORTANT FOR ANONYMOUS REVIEWERS!***

**I changed my mind if you post an anonymous review I will make a section after the chapter to reply to them, so if you do that you can find it there, regular reviews will be replied to same as always, Thank you.**

**-Jknight out**


	2. Chapter 2 First OP

**A/N: Ok I had some trouble with the middle of this chapter but I like how it turned out, set me up for the next few things I have planned nicely.**

**Edit: I knew i forgot something the anonymous reviews! Thanks for the Review Endermatrix!**

**I can't think of anything else to say so ON WITH THE SHOW!**

* * *

Chapter 2: First OP

"So, there are basically two guys guarding it?" Garrus's voice comes over the comm in my helmet.

"We've covered it from all sides for a week, we've only spotted two guys, armed and armored."

"Alright get back to base, we'll strike in a few hours."

"Roger." I take my hand off the mic button. "Alright Siv, we're done here."

The Turian nods back to me, and we start walking to our pick up point. Sivan and I have gotten along pretty well, we've been together on stakeout duty several times over the week, and he's different from other Turians so he's usually gotten along better with other species that don't understand the social nuances of Turian culture.

So we head back to base to rest for an hour before heading back out for the strike.

"Alright team, listen up." Garrus addresses the team around the table in the common area. "We're going in fast, take out the guards, steal as much as we can in twenty minutes, and get out."

"Why twenty minutes?" Dak asks.

"That's about how long we estimate it would take reinforcements to arrive, if an alarm does get set off." Garrus replies.

Dak nods.

"No more questions?" he looks to each member in turn. "Alright get your gear on."

The team has to come in two groups because the aircar we have only fits four people, but it gives the first team time to set up. The compound is simple, two low hangar/garages about 200 meters long, one on each side of the compound, with a small two story office also acting as a gatehouse and control tower, the whole thing surrounded by 20 foot walls. One guard is standing at the front gate asleep on his feet, the other one is inside the control tower on the top of the office building.

Garrus is set up with a suppressed Mantis looking at the guy in the tower while Sivan is sneaking up on the guy at the gate. I pull my eye from the scope of my Widow. "Doesn't looks shielded or reinforced Mantis should go through no problem."

Garrus nods to me. "Right, Sivan what about your guy?"

"I can take him out when you give the signal, he's practically sleeping." The infiltrator replies over the comm.

The rest of the team walks over to Garrus and I. "Alright everyone's here let's move."

Garrus's sniper goes off with barely a whisper and the guard slumps over, and I can see Siv sneak along the wall next to the guard and stick a knife in his throat. We quickly run up to the gate where Siv is already hacking the gate controls. Once we're inside we split up and clear the building, a few mechanics are all that's here, they only have side arms on them and are quickly taken care of.

"Alright we're clear, Jon meet me up in the tower." Garrus says over the comm.

"Roger that." A few moments later I'm up in the control tower.

"There are quite a few mechanics out there, we might have a short firefight." Garrus says looking out the windows at the yard bellow.

I look out the window as well observing the area, he's right there are at least ten guys moving about in the cluttered work yard. "Firefight means an alert gets sent."

"Twenty minutes."

I nod. "Let's do it."

Garrus takes Rellan and Dak to one of two doors leading out to the yard, while I have Siv and Weaver with me.

"Ready when you are Garrus."

"Alright let's go."

As I reach for the door it suddenly opens revealing an eclipse mechanic, it takes a second to register what's happening before he starts reaching for his sidearm. I don't let him get to it, swinging my Avenger around and catching him in the face with the stock, as he reels back I bring the gun back around and light him up. "Come on let's go!"

We move out into the yard where a firefight is quickly breaking out. Taking cover behind a pile of parts I pop up and look around, more mechanics are coming out of the garages from where we couldn't see them, a few even have rifles that were likely laying around. The fight doesn't last for very long, even though we were outnumbered they didn't even have shields.

"Alright Weaver get us a shuttle everyone else start looking around for equipment we can use, twenty minutes." Garrus orders as soon as the fight is over.

I start looking through the workshops for anything helpful, quickly filling a crate with various bits of tech. When I get back out to the yard with my box Weaver is getting out of a shuttle parked in the middle of the yard, he opens the side hatches and I stow my crate inside and start to go back for more. Stopping briefly next to a dead mechanic.

"What have we here?" I reach down and pick up the Mattock rifle the mechanic was using. "Bout damn time I found one of these."

Stowing the weapon, I head back to get more stuff. At the end of twenty minutes everyone is in the shuttle and we're taking off, just in time to avoid being detected by reinforcements. We nabbed quite a bit of tech, and the shuttle itself is good and sturdy, built more like a tank the UT-40 is a heavy duty transport. While it is less maneuverable than its younger cousin the UT-47 Kodiak, it can take more punishment, and is easier to repair. All in all a good mission, short and to the point.

Back at base Garrus and I are in my armory going through some of the tech we captured.

"That went well." I say.

He nods. "Yeah, we got exactly what we went for."

"Somehow I doubt that all of our missions will go so smoothly." I reply sarcastically.

"Well Shepard isn't here, I think we have a fair shot."

I chuckle at that. "Maybe, although I am still here."

"Spirits were doomed." I punch him on the shoulder for that one.

And so that's what we did for a while, we stole supplies, we killed moderately important people, built our way up, made ourselves a name, the mercs started to take notice getting more and more pissed over the first month. Started hearing whispered talk of 'Archangel' and his squad, people starting to hope, it feels good to be part of it. With Shepard we did good things, but it was all under wraps, nobody knew, I'm not saying I wanted the attention, nobody knows who we are here, but it's nice to see that people appreciate what you do. Even if they don't know _you _did it.

* * *

I'm in my shop working on a few things when Garrus comes in, it's become our impromptu place to make mission plans.

I look up from my work. "What's up Cap?"

He's about to speak then looks utterly confused. "Cap?"

"Captain" He looks at me funny. "What? Shepard's the Boss so you can be Captain."

He sighs. "I'll never understand you."

"It's easier not to try, but what's up?"

He reorients himself into business mode. "We got lucky, Rellan overheard a drunk merc bragging about a shipment while gathering info, we dug around and got the details."

"What's the shipment?"

"Some high end weapons tech, we don't know how they got it, but it's stopping for a few hours at a Blue Suns warehouse before moving off Omega."

"So are we gunna steal it or blow it up?" I ask leaning back on my bench.

"We're gunna blow up the whole warehouse, the Suns have a little bit of everything there, red sand, parts, tainted ezo, guns, would have been a good target regardless of this package."

"Right, when is this package going to be at the warehouse?"

"Tonight, Dak is looking at the buildings blueprints right now to see what kind of ordinance we'll need, I want you on sniper support."

"Aye aye Cap'n." I push a few things out of the way grabbing my Widow, and getting her ready.

A few hours later I'm climbing an old rusty ladder up to the top of a warehouse a little ways away from the target building. Finally hauling myself up onto the rooftop I walk over to the edge and look around. This spot is as good as it's gunna get, I can see the entire front of the warehouse where most of the Blue suns guards are, but I can't see very far into the building itself, the only windows are small and high. I lie down and set up my bipod and start zeroing in my scope.

"Alright I'm in position."

"Alright, we'll wait for the shipment to arrive, bust in and blow it up."

"Roger that."

We wait around for around half an hour before an unmarked transport shuttle arrives, and starts getting waved through security.

"Garrus?"

"That's gotta be it, get ready."

I adjust my grip and start looking at what the mercs are doing.

"Ready when you are Cap."

"Alright let's move people."

I watch as Garrus and the others move up to the side of the warehouse, just as a guard is about to call them out, Garrus chucks a grenade. Some of the newer mercs stare at it dumbfounded for a second while the veteran mercs dive away, the blast catches several of them knocking them off their feet, and peppering the area with shrapnel. I start looking for mercs in cover.

Finding a good candidate I pull the trigger.

"HA, you blew his head clean off!" Rellan says over the comm.

"I'm sure he wasn't using it." I reply, looking for another target.

We quickly finish off the rest of the mercs on guard duty, and Garrus and the rest of the team move into the warehouse.

"I can't cover you in there, but I'll keep an eye out for reinforcements."

"Right, we shouldn't be too long."

I switch radio channels. "Weaver how's it look on your end?"

"No one's seen me but I just saw two Blue suns shuttles headed your way."

"Alright thanks for the heads up."

I switch my channel back. "Garrus Weaver says we've got two shuttles headed our way."

"Shit, we're still planting charges we'll have to deal with them."

"Keep em' at the door and I'll shoot em' in the back."

"Roger that."

I hear the shuttles coming and look over my shuttle, one flies right over and sets down at the warehouse, but the other one slows down and starts circling, one of the doors opens and I can see mercs inside pointing at me. _"Oh that's not good."_

"Nix that Garrus I've been spotted, I'm getting of this roof."

"Get out of there, get to us or get to Weaver."

I quickly get up and run for the ladder, swinging over the edge as the troops in the shuttle open fire. Quickly sliding down the ladder to the roof of the building next to the one I was on. Glancing over my shoulder I can see the shuttle following me, I duck behind a fan unit as they troopers open fire again. I grab my new Mattock of my back and poke my head out, the lower half of the shuttle door is closed and the troops inside are using it as cover, while the top half is open allowing them to fire at me. I duck back down as another hail of bullets whizzes over my cover. Shit. The shuttle keeps hovering closer to my position trying to give the troops a better shot, I can now see the inside of the shuttle the door on the other side is closed… Bingo. I grab a grenade off my belt and wait. "_Just a little closer."_

I stand up and chuck the grenade, it sails through the air and right into the open shuttle bouncing off the other door before settling to the floor of the shuttle. I hear frantic cursing before the grenade goes off the shuttle shakes violently, then one of the thrusters cuts out with a loud metallic whine. The shuttle starts to list to one side as another thruster sputters and dies, it careens off and slams into the side of a building, then crashes to the ground on fire. _"That's a damn good grenade… or a really shitty shuttle."_

I stand there admiring my handiwork for a few moments, before getting off the roof and heading toward our LZ. "Garrus how are you doing?"

"We'll be out of here in a minute, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine,I'll meet you at the LZ."

"Right."

I jog over to our extraction point and wait a few moments before Weaver shows up. Garrus and the rest of the squad show up soon after that. We take off, leaving the doors open. Dak pulls out a detonator.

"3… 2… 1…"

The warehouse erupts with explosions, all the major supporting structures are immediately taken out, and the building collapses to a heap of burning rubble.

"So what exactly was in that shipment?" I ask as we speed away.

"A salvaged Thanix cannon."

I stare at him dumbfounded. "How the hell did they get that?"

"Don't know, must have stripped it off a Turian ship, although how or where they found a ship with a prototype weapon, and managed to beat it and salvage the gun is beyond me."

"It's a damn good thing we were able to destroy it too."

"Not before I got a scan of it though." Gars replies with the Turian version of a smirk.

"_Always wondered where he learned to make that."_

* * *

We get back to base, and I strip off my combat gear and head for a shower. This place has a shower room similar to the one on the Normandy, which is good, it's not exactly easy to explain my arm to someone. So I get into the shower stall and take off my dirty clothes, then start unwrapping the bandage around my right shoulder. I keep my right shoulder and part of my chest wrapped in bandages to hide how the synthetic arm is actually attached to my body, the synthetic fibers coming from it have woven seamlessly into my skin so it's nearly impossible to tell exactly where organic ends and synthetic begins.

Anyone with half a brain would know that it's not a regular prosthetic, If they got a good look at it. It's been weird getting used to it, but it is a part of me now. I finish my shower and re-wrap my arm, heading back to my room for some shut eye. Garrus is waiting at the door to my room about to knock.

"Garrus?"

"Oh, there you are good I need to talk to you."

I open the door and we walk in, he starts pacing. "What's up Garrus?"

"I went digging around in some old military contact trying to find out how the mercs got their hands on that gun."

"You found something?"

"No, that worries me, but I did find out that another frigate was sent out to find the vessel that had the prototype on it."

"A Turian frigate in the Terminus systems? That isn't good."

"No, they got attacked by some slavers, they beat em' off, but they were damaged, they have to replace lost fuel from a leak. And the only place around to do that is…"

"Here" I finish for him. "As soon as they land the mercs will be all over them."

"Exactly, and we don't have the manpower to really help them." He continues his pacing. "But if the mercs get that ship Turian high command could go to war."

"Shit"

* * *

**A/N: Oooooh look at that! A cliffhanger!**


	3. Chapter 3: Plight of the Tarsus

**A/N: Ok so here we are with chapter 3, it took me a bit longer because school just started and before that I had summer homework to finish, so I apologize for the delay. A nice action packed chapter though I think. Plus I finally got Dawnguard for Skyrim, so can you blame me?**

**On an unrelated note I read an article about dextro vs Levo amino acids, and their effects on humans. Apparently when a human eats something based on dextro amino acids, it merely passes through their system without giving any nutrition, not the fatal allergic reaction the game states. So I'll be taking that course with the story, because really I always thought that getting an allergic reaction just from kissing a Turian or something was dumb. This doesn't come into play this chapter just letting everyone know.**

**I hope that doesn't bother anyone, but I think that's all… no anonymous reviews, so on with the show.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Plight of Tarsus

Garrus and I stand in silence over the recent revelation. "How are we gunna deal with this?"

"I don't know Jon, but the mercs cannot have that ship." Garrus replies pacing slowly.

"We don't have the numbers to just hold off the mercs, even if the crew comes out to help."

"I know, but we have to try."

I think for a moment. "What about Aria?" He looks to me. "Well a war would be just as bad for Aria, as everyone else in the Terminus, at the very least she wouldn't want the mercs to have a military grade frigate, to cause trouble with."

"Maybe, I'll contact Aria, you get everyone else geared up and ready to go we've gotta move."

I nod and we both head out to the main area, Garrus goes up towards his room while I walk out into the common area.

"Alright everyone we've got a situation, gather round." Ten minutes later everyone is grabbing gear from the armory.

"This isn't good we don't have the manpower to help them out much." Dak speaks up while packing charges into a bag.

"Garrus is calling the cavalry right now, but we don't have time to wait around and see if they're going to make it here." I reply grabbing ammo belts.

"So this is basically suicide?" Rellan asks.

"No, we aren't going to stay in indefinitely, if the fight becomes hopeless we're pulling out, but if that happens we all need to get out of the Terminus systems." I reply evenly.

"We're really in the shit aren't we?"

"Yeah, just a little bit." I reply sarcastically.

Garrus slides into the room and starts rapidly gearing up. "Alright Aria is committing troops, the ship is coming in at a small port in Gozu district, Sun's and Vorcha territory, thankfully the Vorcha aren't interested in the ship, but they might show up anyway."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Good, now let's get down there."

* * *

Everyone is in the shuttle, fully loaded for heavy combat, I have my usual ammo belt as well as another strapped on bandolier style, an extra satchel full of grenades, and another with a field medical kit, plus all my weapons. I would never take this much for a regular mission but since we are going to stay in a relatively small area I'm not too worried about weight.

"Alright we're in comm range." Weaver says from up in the cockpit.

Garrus keys his mic. "Hello? Is this the Turian frigate Tarsus?"

"What? Who the hell is this?" A gruff distinctly Turian voice comes over the com.

"My name is… Archangel, I've got a small squad ready to assist you against the mercs." That's the first time Garrus has referred to himself as Archangel.

"And why the hell should I believe that?"

"Because I know you're out here looking for a Thanix cannon."

"What in the… "There is a pause on the other end. "Damnit, I don't care how you know that but if you're going to help we need it bad."

"We're on a shuttle inbound for your position, don't shoot us down."

Garrus continues speaking with the Turian CO. as we approach, the shuttle doors open and we fly over the ship once. I can see several Turians on the hull repairing one particularly bad hit. Beyond that there are about fifty soldiers in a perimeter around the ship holding off the mercs, they aren't attacking in earnest yet, just staying in a firefight. We land inside the perimeter, and Garrus breaks us off to assist the flanks. Siv and I head off to the right flank Rellan and Weaver heading off to the left, Garrus and Dak holding the main line.

The right flank is actually divided into two parts one on each side of a narrow bridge, a large gap separates the docking platform from a small maintenance area that isn't attached to the platform. Two soldiers are across the bridge making sure the soldiers on the rest of the line aren't getting shot in the flanks, I head across to them while Siv stays on the main line. I have to make a mad dash across the bridge because there is no cover on it, only being about five feet wide none of the usual crates and convenient cover were left on it.

I get into cover with the Turian soldiers. "How are you holding up?"

"What who are you?" one asks me.

"I'm here to help, how are you doing?"

"We're ok for now but I don't know how long ammo will hold up." The other who I notice is female replies.

"Alright, if you do need ammo I have plenty."

With that I move down to the right farthest away from the bridge, and pull out my widow to start picking off skirmishers. After a few minutes more merc shuttles start showing up, I key my mic.

"Garrus exactly when are Aria's troops coming?"

"Well obviously Aria wouldn't help us without some kind of personal gain, the Sun's are pretty strong right now so Aria wants to cause as many casualties as possible by arriving late in the fight and hitting em' in the back ranks."

"Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day, at dawn look to the east." Gandalf she ain't but the principal is the same.

"What?" He replies confused.

"Oh, uh old movie reference, ignore it."

"Right"

The fighting begins to pick up now with the Sun's making an effort to punch a hole in the lines, especially on the flanks, we manage to push back two attempts but they're getting closer to our position every time. During this time I find out the female Turian is a biotic, throwing a warp every now and then. The third charge is huge, even on this farthest flank around twenty Sun's burst over their cover and charge us, there's about a hundred yards of open ground between our lines with very little cover but still twenty versus three isn't very good odds. I open fire with my new Mattock, it performs marvelously, but with only a sixteen round clip I kill one merc and drop another's shields, quickly swapping for my pistol I finish off the un-shielded merc and kill another before the clip fills, with no time for a reload and rapidly closing distance I switch to my shotgun opening fire as fast as I can.

There are simply too many however and seven mercs are still alive when the first one jumps over our cover, down by the male Turian, the fighting suddenly switches to intense melee combat. I gun whip a merc as he climbs over and finish him with a shotgun blast, quickly pulling my knife and dropping the shotgun, the next merc attempts to gun whip me but I'm able to dodge the slow two handed attack ducking under his swing and sticking my knife into the weak spot in his armpit, throw him down and finish him with a stab to the neck.

Quickly moving to help the other two soldiers with me we are able to repel the attack but the male soldier took a shot in the arm, the females Biotics allowing her to easily defeat three Sun's. I move over during the lull after the failed push.

"Is he going to be alright? I have medical supplies."

"I've got it covered I'm a combat medic." The female replies.

"Alright, we're clear for now, but can he still fight?"

"No, he can't use this arm, he won't be able to hold the rifle properly."

"Alright then here." I hand him the satchel full of grenades. "That's your job now."

He nods to me. "Not as good with my left arm but I can manage."

Suddenly several explosions go off behind the mercs lines and frantic gunfire erupts, my comm crackles to life. "Is everyone alright, Aria's troops just arrived."

General 'bloodied but living' replies come from the squad.

"Good, the repairs are almost done, once the ship is away we're scattering, either get in the shuttle or get to a rendezvous."

The mercs make one final desperate charge to try and eliminate one of the groups attacking them.

"Alright repairs finished everyone fall back NOW!" The Turian commander's voice comes over the universal comm.

I turn to the injured soldier. "Go we'll cover you."

He nods throwing the last grenade then sprinting out across the bridge as me and the female suppress the mercs. The soldier is halfway across the bridge when the female starts to go. I see a merc with a rocket launcher taking aim and quickly grab her belt and pull her back into cover as the bridge explodes, the simple construct falling apart completely. Although the other soldier makes it across.

"Shit, Garrus we're stuck on the far right, we'll have to head to a rendezvous."

"Copy that, we'll clear the flank from the shuttle then meet you there."

The female soldier picks herself up and watches as the frigate takes off, then as the shuttle takes off as well. There isn't enough room for the shuttle to land on this side, but they fly over and devastate the few remaining mercs on our side of the divide.

"Come on, we've gotta get to the LZ." I say to the soldier.

"Wha… where are we going?"

"An LZ we'll get picked up and head back to base, we'll decide what to do from there." I reply quickly moving through the hole in the lines.

We twist our way through several maintenance passages and back alleys towards one of the predetermined pick up points.

"So who are you again?" The female soldier asks.

"I'm part of a squad of vigilantes under Archangel."

"Vigilantes? What are you trying to clean up Omega?"

"Well that's nearly impossible, but we're trying our best." I reply cheerily.

"Right, so what are you going to do with me?"

I think for a moment. "We'll probably just get you on a shuttle to the Citadel, you can regroup with the Turian military from there."

The soldier takes her helmet off, revealing a slim face with the shortened but still prominent fringe of a female Turian, her skin is a slight bluish pastel color, and her face paint is black.

"Actually could I ehm, join you?" she asks rubbing the back of her neck.

"You want too?"

"Yeah, you probably wouldn't understand, but people like me don't really fit in with Turian society."

"Biotics I know, I'm good friends with a few Turians, especially a few that don't fit in with other Turians." I reply smirking under my helmet.

"Huh, well yeah Biotics are freaks, monsters, my family was especially displeased." She replies lowly.

"All the way up to the family, damn that's harsh."

"Yeah, so I don't really enjoy the military, the work I like, it's all the other bullshit that gets to me."

"I think Archangel will like you." I reply chuckling. "He's not a very good Turian."

"Really? Well my name's Talyn Gorrets, Lyn for short."

I take off my helmet and bow dramatically. "Jonathon Knight at your service."

"You humans are strange."

"No that's just me." The shuttle flies over then and starts to descend.

The doors open and Garrus walks out. "You're not wearing your helmet."

"Very astute, she-"I point over my shoulder at Lyn. "Wants to join us."

"He did tell you what we do right?" Garrus asks.

"Yeah, I'd rather be a vigilante than deal with all the social bullshit in the military."

"Social bullshit?" Garrus asks confused.

"She's a biotic." I reply casually. "And a medic, and I can personally vouch for her fighting skills."

Garrus walks over in front of her, practically towering over the shorter female. Garrus has that ability to look down at people no matter their height though. He just looks at her for a while, examining.

"How old are you?"

She seems surprised by the question. "I uh twenty."

He looks over to me. "Alright, she'll be with you combat infiltrator, and since I know how the Turian military trains medics, we should start looking for a proper doctor."

He takes his helmet off and offers his hand. "Garrus Vakarian"

"Talyn Gorrets" she replies shaking his hand, she pauses for a second. "Wait, Vakarian, Knight… you were the one with that human Specter."

"Commander John Shepard, yeah we were on his team." I reply a little sadly.

"Finest man I ever met, human or otherwise." Garrus adds. "Come on let's get back to base."

* * *

I'm working at my bench, a lot to do after that heavy battle, when Lyn walks in.

"Hey Lyn, what cha need?"

"This is the armory?" she asks looking around at the half quarters, half armory room I both work and live in.

"Yeah, everyone keeps their gear in here, I'm the guy who keeps everything working." I reply with a smile. "That locker on the end is yours, I'll make sure your stuff stays in good shape."

"Ok" She moves over to the locker and starts putting her gear away in it.

"So, you're going to be with me and Siv on the infiltration team."

"Yeah, I'll need some training for that."

"I figured, Sivan is our sneaking expert, I'm still learning from him, and I'm the marksman and hacking expert."

"Right so, is there a certain time for training?" She replies slightly distracted.

"Yeah, we practice every day after breakfast, go ahead ask I don't mind."

"Wha- oh uh sorry I didn't want too, right so uh how?"

"It's ok, I got my original 'removed' by Soverighn, I picked this up and modified it afterwards." I reply motioning to my synthetic arm.

"But you can still use it in combat? I thought prosthetics weren't that good yet?"

"I'm… good with tech, my personal specialty, in fact if you ever want something special or customized come talk to me, and I'll sort it out."

"Really? My armor never fit quite right, do you think you could help me with that?"

"Sure get it out and I'll fix it."

I spend the next hour or so customizing some of Lyn's equipment, and just getting to know her a bit better, she's rather shy, especially for a Turian, well perhaps shy is the wrong word, she's quiet unless she has something worth saying, rather similar to me. I get labeled the 'quiet guy' by people who don't know me very well a lot, but obviously when I'm around friends, I can be rather loud. Any way after we're done she says her goodbyes and goes off to get settled in.

I smile and turn back to my workbench. "_Another crazy day, impossible battle, new team member and friend, what next?"_

Still smiling, I pick up the single dog tag I had been working on, and finish scratching _Tarsus _into it, still wearing the dog tag from my time on the SR1, it only had one of the two tags, the other having been left on the SR1. Slipping the new tag on so I again have two.

* * *

**A/N: Well I hope everyone enjoyed that chapter, no cliffhanger this time, so thanks for reading. I greatly appreciate everyone who has followed, reviewed, or faved, it always makes me smile when I get an email alerting me I got a new fave or something.**

**Knight out-**


	4. Chapter 4: Old Friends, New Places

**A/N: Hey everybody I apologize for how long it took to get this chapter done. My muse was elsewhere for a while and when it comes back I had no time for anything, go figure right?**

**Anyway updates will be slower now that school is in session, and the fact I've started writing other stories, which is something I didn't think I'd do, but I found out I love writing so what are you gunna do. By the way if any of you feel like you want to write something do it, I discovered that I love it.**

**I'll do my best to keep the updates faster than this one was, but I don't know the future.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Old Friends, New places

So things went well after that little bit of almost starting a galactic war. You know comparatively, most things are better than that. But things have been going generally well, Lyn and I have been training for stealth mission with Sivan, we're getting pretty good at it, we've done a little bit of sneaking, nothing serious yet, but we're getting there.

Right now though I'm doing my agility 'course' which is a route around the base through various areas of machinery and pipes so that half the time you're running and the other half you're climbing or free running over obstacles, Sivan, me and Lyn run all run it at least once every day to build endurance and agility. Vault that pipe, grab a high pipe and swing over a pit, slide under a vent, run run run. It was killer at first but I'm getting stronger now. I finish my run at the base and head in for a drink of water and then a shower, and I run into Dak in the kitchen area.

"Hey Jon, we we're going out to Afterlife tonight to relax a bit you wanna come?"

Me and Garrus talked about this kind of thing. "I can't Dak, while nobody knows what you guys look like, I'm a little bit different." I reply holding up my synthetic arm. "Bit of a giveaway, how many other people have you seen with a Geth arm?"

"Hmm, I guess you're right, I feel bad leaving you behind though…"

"No worries, I get an evening alone to play games, besides Afterlife is a pisshole."

He chuckles at that. "True, but it's a pisshole with alcohol and strippers."

"Well you got me there." I reply sarcastically.

After getting my drink I grab some clean clothes and head to the showers, where I find Lyn about to take one as well.

"Hey Jon"

I nod in return as we both step into adjacent stalls. "You going out to Afterlife tonight?"

"What to watch the squad drink themselves into a stupor? Pass."

I chuckle. "Well looks like it's just you an' me then."

"You aren't going?"

"I'm a bit more recognizable than the rest of the squad, Garrus and I think they would be able to figure out who I am because of my arm… never like clubs anyway."

I hear her chuckle softly through the wall of the stall. "Guess that makes sense, although I think you're giving the Merc groups more credit than they deserve."

"Maybe, maybe."

"I was just gunna read or something what are you plans?"

"I was gunna play some video games because Garrus forbade me from working while they were out partying."

"Mind if I join you? I can't remember the last time I just sat around and played games… must have been back before the military at least."

"Sure, company is always welcome, you should have seen back on the Normandy me an' Tali got the whole squad playing games…"

The two of us keep talking about games and whatnot while we finish our showers. I do a little bit of work though the day, trying to work out a better melee weapon; knives are fun and all but not so effective versus modern armor. I can't really think of anything plausible at least not right now, though maybe I could dig around somewhere for some blueprints or something. Anyway the rest of the day passes rather uneventfully, but once evening, or at least what passes for evening on Omega, rolls around the squad heads off to Afterlife. Lyn and I head upstairs with a large amount of snacks and beverages, and begin our gaming marathon. Strategy, shooters, adventure, all kinds of games, even Minecraft, which is the galaxy's longest lived game at this point, spread across all species, and hundreds of thousands of planets, I thought that was hilarious but couldn't say I didn't see it coming.

"CREEEPER FUUUUU- BOOOM" _God damnit._

Lyn starts guawfing next to me as my precious resources spray across the cavern floor.

"Oh HA HA like it hasn't happened to you before."

"I know but it's still funny _every_ time."

So the evening goes on pretty much like that, I really enjoy hanging out with Lyn, and we head to bed at some indiscriminate hour in the morning, and still beat the rest of the squad to bed. I wake up several hours later, still tired but I have stuff to do today. So I head into the kitchen where Garrus is slumped on the table, Rellan is calmly eating breakfast, and Dak is passed out on the floor near the couch.

"Didn't quite make it to bed did he?" I say coming into the kitchen.

Garrus just grumbles into the table top. "sToP SHouTinG…"

Wow he's messed up. Rellan just chuckles. "Lightweights."

I grab myself some breakfast and am about to head out for a run when my Omni tool goes off.

"Hello?"

"Jon?"

"Liara?"

"Good, this number is correct."

"Hi, uh…"

"Good to speak with you again."

"Yeah, it's been a while hasn't it?"

"As much as I'd like to just talk for a bit I called because I could use your help."

"Heh, what do you need?"

"I could use your… unique talents dealing with some Prothean tech."

"I'm listening."

"I'll need you for a week or two, but I've dug up some information on a site of some Prothean ruins, that could have some… valuable information."

"Right, cause you're doing the whole 'Information Broker' thing now right?"

"Yes, the ruins are on a frozen planet, blasting doors open could be dangerous, do you think you could get them open without explosives?"

I pause and think a bit. "Probably, I'll have to talk to Garrus about being gone for two weeks but I don't think we'll be doing any major hits in the next few weeks."

"Good, and the ruins are supposed to be a supply base from when they we're fighting the Reapers, you may be able to find some useful tech there, and I'm certain I can dig up some information and credits to pay you with."

"The info could be useful but you don't have to pay me Liara."

I can hear her sigh a little over the line. "Good to see Omega hasn't changed you much Jon."

I chuckle a little. "It's hard to change crazy."

"So it would seem. Well if you can help there will be a shuttle arriving at Omega tomorrow, the _Eucleon_ , it will bring you to Illium, specifically a special docking bay where they won't look through your things for weapons."

"Those are the best kind."

"I can meet you there, and then I'll get you up to speed with the rest of the details."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

I end the call and head back into the base, Garrus is awake and looking over data pads in the common room, looking much less hung over.

"Yo, Garrus can I talk to you for a sec?"

He gets up. "Yeah sure."

We get into my shop and I close the door behind him.

"What's up Jon?"

"Liara called me, she could use my help on a job." I reply leaning against a bench.

"You said she became an information broker right? What does she need you for?"

I nod. "Yeah, she needs my help getting into some Prothean ruins, you know with my 'Unique' talents."

"Ah, how long does she need you?"

"She guessed about two weeks."

"We'll be fine without you for two weeks," He says scratching his chin. "We don't have the info to pull off anything big."

"Yeah, alright there's a shuttle coming tomorrow to pick me up then."

I spend the rest of the day getting ready packing up essentials and whatnot. Lyn comes in while I'm working at my bench.

"Hey Lyn what's up?"

"You're leaving somewhere?" She asks curiously walking over to me.

"Going to help an old friend for a couple of weeks, I trust your weapons won't disassemble themselves in my absence?"

"Mine" She states firmly. "Will be fine, I'd be worried about everyone else's."

I sigh tiredly. "I'm gunna be real busy when I get back." I reply shaking my head.

* * *

Later that day Siv and I are on a mission, one last quick mission before I leave. Looking down the scope of my Widow I can see the merc recruiter talking to a group of about twenty some odd people of various species. The rangefinder in my scope states that I'm 850 meters away from him, and my targeting software estimates the bullet will drop 1.125mm in that distance, score: Widow 1 gravity 0.

Siv's voice crackles into my headset. "Alright Jon, fire when ready."

"Roger that… firing… now."

The shot rings out as the mass accelerator slug flies downrange at a stupid velocity, impacting the Batarian Merc right in the forehead. The merc falls to the ground as the crowd dives to the floor, the actual mercs start looking for where the shot came from, but I'll be halfway back to base before they search my location. We've started doing these kinds of missions recently, killing a recruiter _during _a recruitment drive is not very good for gaining members. So there's been that kind of stuff we don't really have a big enough squad to risk any bigger jobs, so while I'm away Garrus is gunna try and get some new recruits for our merry little band, specifically a doctor. Not having a medical professional has been a major limiting factor on our operations, because we can't risk someone getting seriously injured.

In any case the day passes and I get up bright and early the next morning. Garrus and Lyn are the only others up right now, and continue with their normal activities as I make myself some breakfast. I sit across from Garrus as he's reading something on a data pad.

"You know getting back in contact with Liara could be helpful." I say.

"You think she'll get much relevant information on Illium?"

"Major Eclipse base in the Terminus there, I imagine she'll be able to get us something on them every now and again."

He nods. "True"

My Omni tool beeps signaling the approach of the shuttle.

"Alright well I'm off, don't die while I'm away."

"Oh you'll know if I do because I'll come back to haunt you."

"Why do I not doubt that?" I reply sarcastically.

I grab my bags and head towards the door passing Lyn as I do.

"Hey, be careful out there, ok?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me Lyn." As I walk away we lock eyes for a moment, I give a curt nod and she returns it

"Good, because I'm totally kicking you ass at Total war again."

"Oh come on, you turned on our alliance!"

She just shrugs and gives me a shit eating grin… the Turian equivalent of that anyway.

So I make my way to the spaceport, a little used one nearby, and hop on the shuttle to Illium.

I sleep on the ride over and I'm there before I know it. Getting off the shuttle, is as easy as Liara described. One of the guards is scanning people but when she looks at me I can see something pop up on her eyepiece.

"You're clear to go."

I nod and walk past, small arsenal and all. Walking out onto one of the tiered plaza areas I can look out at the urban sprawl that is Nos Astra.

_From the obvious deathtrap that is Omega to the hidden teeth of Nos Astra, why can I never go anywhere nice?_

But I digress, the city is beautiful, of course it's Asari, they don't usually disappoint. As I'm admiring the sight I don't notice Liara walking up next to me.

"Rather beautiful isn't it?"

I turn to her "Liara! It's good to see you again."

We share a friendly hug and she leads me over to a waiting car. We get back to her apartment quickly, and she sits me down to brief me.

She pulls up several holographic interfaces, one showing a snowy white and blue planet.

"This is Kerbin, the Prothean facility is completely underground, with one known entrance here." She says as a marker pops up and zooms in on a location. The satellite image barely reveals anything and is nearly impossible to tell anything out of the ordinary.

"They hid this base pretty well."

"That's the main reason this site hasn't been excavated yet, very few people know about it."

"So what kind of information is in this place that could be relevant?"

"The client didn't give any identification but I believe it is one of the many weapons firms looking for Prothean weapons technology, that is what they told me to look for anyway."

I nod. "What kind of a team do you have assembled?"

"Besides you and me, there will be a Quarian data analyst, my assistant, and four Asari mercenaries."

"Mercs? What company? Eclipse?"

"No they're a small local group, 'The Daughters of Astra', I've contracted them on multiple occasions, and they don't do anything obviously illegal."

"Alright, I trust your judgment on this."

"Thank you, I was worried you wouldn't want to work with mercenaries."

"As long as they aren't into illegal activity like the big three, mercenaries do honest work most of the time." I reply shrugging. "Like Tom, he was a merc."

"Oh yes I remember, I haven't heard anything about him have you?"

I shake my head. "No, I wonder how he's doing."

"Mmm, well in any case we should get to the Ship, we will be departing in a few hours."

"Alright lead the way."

* * *

An hour later I'm standing in the cargo bay of a small ship, with four Asari mercs in front of me. Walking back and forth I look them over and gauge their skill. Liara seems to have picked well, one of them is obviously focused on Biotics only carrying a pistol with some biotic enhancing armor, another is wearing riot gear and carrying a shotgun, the third a light sniper, and the commander of the squad with an assault rifle.

"Seem like you all know what you're doing my name is Garret Hawke." Liara and I decided it was best I use an alias, and I couldn't help but choose Hawke.

The commander steps forward. "Anyanna Navarro, Dr. T'soni instructed us to follow your orders."

I nod. "Yes, unless I see a need, I won't give you orders, as long as you follow them when I do give them."

She nods, and the one in riot gear speaks up. "Good the last thing I need is some youngster giving me orders." The commander glares at her.

I smirk. "I'd hold my judgment t until later, you don't know me, you might be surprised."

"I'm rarely pleasantly surprised by Humans."

"I'm not like most Humans, Liara will vouch for that."

She shrugs and the mercs dissipate, Liara comes up next to me. "So what do you think?"

"They seem quite capable, you don't really expect there to be any fighting though do you?"

"There shouldn't be any but better safe than sorry, we'll need people to move things around and setup anyway."

I nod, and then move off to my quarters on the ship for some rest.

The trip out to the planet takes about a day, this ship isn't exactly the _Normandy _in terms of speed. Well in terms of anything really. It's not bad but it's not nice either, adequate is a good word to describe it. So the trip out is fine, we're currently in orbit around the planet getting ready to land. The ship is small and will serve as our living space planet side for the week and a half we'll be here because anything simpler than a prefab wouldn't be able to keep out the cold. Anyway I'm at the surveyor looking for our landing site which should be coming over the horizon any minute now. A ping emanates from the console bringing my attention to the long range scanners.

"What the-?" I look for a few more minutes as the image on screen clears up. "Liara, you need to see this."

She walks over looking at the screen. "Is that a… ship?"

"Yeah, but I'm more concerned about the occupants, here I got an image here."

"Are those…?"

* * *

**A/N: CLIFF HANGER!**


	5. Chapter 5: Unexpected Company

**A/N: First of I'm sorry it took so long, I've been in and out with writing recently, lot of stuff going on, with the holidays, schools, and being grounded for a while. But anyway it's a good chapter almost 4k words so it's a bit beefier than my last few chapters.**

**I think part of my lack of interest in writing this was a lack of response, or perhaps a deluge of response on my other story. I really enjoy talking to you guys really I do, send me a PM write a review whatever I will answer any questions and listen to all comments.**

**Anyway on with the show!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Unexpected Company

"Collectors" I reply finishing her sentence.

"What could they be doing here?"

"Nothing good." I reply. "There must be something important in there that the Reapers don't want us getting later on."

"Do you think we can take them?"

I think for a moment running more scans. "I think so if we're careful, that's only a small ship, there shouldn't be more than maybe 30 collectors."

"We have seven people and two LOKI mechs Jon."

"You're right we should at least make it fair, leave the mechs." I reply with a crazy grin.

She shakes her head rolling her eyes. "Find us another landing site, for us to set down at."

We set the ship down about three quarters of a mile away from the collectors, luckily the near constant blizzard conditions on the planet prevent them from detecting us, but likewise our ships sensors are useless now too. I ready up to do some scouting in the ship's cargo bay with the sniper wielding Asari, whose name I find out is Teshana.

I decide to just bring my Widow and Phalanx to stay light, my usual weapon load out is pretty heavy, especially now that I have a Mattock instead of an Avenger, and the Widow is heavy enough on its own. I slip my helmet on checking the seals, and going through the HUD making sure everything is where it should be, satisfied that it is I get up and sling the Widow over my shoulder and head over to the bay door. Teshana follows after and we head out into the Blizzard, after about 200 yards our radios start acting up, and Liara comes over the comm broken up and crackling.

"Jon, I've an-yzed sno—cont—ent it appears t- have a - hig—h meta- c con-ent - disrupt- comms"

"The snow has metal in it, that's what's messing up our sensors." I say to Teshana.

She nods. "Nothing we can do about it."

"Right let's keep going." I switch my radio off and continue trudging out into the snow.

The snow is heavy and fairly deep in some areas but compresses enough for us to walk on it instead of through it. The going is a bit slow but there are only low rolling hills, so the terrain is on our side, and my armor is keeping off the worst of the chill but it's definitely gotten me thinking about winterized armor, but there's nothing I can do about it now, so I grit and bear it.

After about half an hour we make it to the edge of the depression where the entrance to the Prothean base is, and where the collectors have landed. I set up my Widow and start scouting the place out. They're melting through layers of ice that are covering the door, but they don't have a lot of equipment set up, there are a few collectors at the door and a few bringing crates out of the ship to a pile over by the door.

"What do you think is in those crates?" Teshana asks.

"Dunno, could be anything I don't really know what they want from this place." I look back through the scope and we continue scouting for a while longer. "I think that's all we're gunna get we should head back."

"Right."

So we get off the ground and start the long trudge back to the ship, my armor is good but spending that long in that cold I'm starting to feel it.

* * *

Back on the ship I get a cup of hot chocolate that I bought just because we were heading somewhere cold.

"So what did it look like Jon?" Liara asks.

"They were melting through the ice over the door, I don't know how long they've been at it but I'd say they'll probably be through soon though."

"Do you think we should attack before they get through?"

I think for a moment. "No, we should wait for them to send in their away team and then hit em' in the back, cut them off from their ship."

"A solid strategy, I'll let you warm up and get everyone else ready."

I just nod taking a drink of hot chocolate. Where's my thermos?

Twenty minutes later I'm back down in the cargo bay getting my armor back on, and loading up. I decide to leave my M-12 behind to lighten up a bit, but after I finish readying my gear I head over to check on the others. All the Asari are prepped and ready like the professional soldiers they are, but when I get to the Quarian I stop.

"Do you have combat training?"

She looks up. "Yeah, I'm a good fighter." She says a little defiantly.

"I thought so; no newbie would hold a rifle like that."

She blanches for a second. "Oh, yeah I wanted to be a marine back on the fleet before I got… caught up, on Illium."

"So you're a slave?"

"They call it 'Indentured Servant' but yeah." She replies hollowly.

Bastards. "Do you work for Liara or are you contracted?"

"Contracted, I work for the Sirta foundation."

I nod. "Alright, well today is your day to be a marine, what's your name?"

"Sara'tan nar Neema."

"The Neema? I have a friend on that ship, my name's Hawke a pleasure to fight alongside you." I reply offering a hand.

She shakes it. "Hmm, you're different than most people I've met."

"I get that a lot." I reply with a smirk.

All geared up we head out into the blizzard once again. The mechs couldn't handle the snow so we did actually have to leave them behind.

"So now we're on even terms right?" Liara asks snarkily.

"Yeah yeah, just more for me to shoot." I reply rolling my eyes inside my helmet.

We trudge out back to the Prothean site and set up on the ridgeline again. I drop down and scan the camp through my scope. "The door is open, there are a few collectors outside and all their cargo is gone."

"So you were right, now we hit them?"

"Yeah, Teshana you get the one on the left, I'll get right, everyone else get ready to clear the ship."

I sight up the trooper on the right of the entryway and wait for Teshana to give me an affirmative. "Fire"

Two shots echo out, one significantly louder than the other, and the two guards at the door slump over.

"Alright go, let's clear the ship."

We quickly advance up to the collector vessel and stack up outside, I start hacking the door and after a few seconds the indicator turns green and the doors open. Once inside we split up into small groups and search the ship. It's only a small vessel, and there are only a few unprepared collectors left inside.

"That's the last of them." I say standing in the small cockpit area.

"Alright let's get inside the ruins then." Liara says turning towards the door.

I follow her out and we approach the opening to the ruins, cautiously peering inside reveals a long hallway made mostly of ice. We start advancing inside.

"Most of this place is made of ice, the walls, the floors, the ceiling…" Liara speaks quietly though the radio.

"Yeah, using explosives here would have been bad" I reply.

We approach a corner and I peak around, quickly pulling my head back. "There are a bunch of em' around the corner." I say quietly "You two get to the other side of the hall we'll cover you." I say to two of the Asari.

I pop around the corner and open fire at a group of collectors halfway down the hall, emptying the Mattock's entire clip before getting back in cover to reload as the others find cover and start firing. We're able to catch several of them off guard before they can scramble down to the other end of the hall, and return fire. I take aimed shots with my Mattock targeting collectors who's barriers are down, and I'm able to put down several, before I decide it's time to move up.

"Cover me." The squad stands up and lays down suppressing fire while I sprint up the hallway to where the group of collectors originally was. There's a low metal wall here that makes good cover. I'm about to stand and start firing when I notice one of the boxes the collectors were carrying in, and it's open, I can see bits of wiring and mechanical parts, and it's beeping. A little light on the top flashes in time with the beeping and as I look at it, it starts to speed up.

"Oh shit…" I dive over the wall just as the bomb goes off, and land heavily on the other side feeling like someone just smacked me in the head with a sledgehammer, the world goes gray and black, and spinning as a high pitched ringing fills my ears. I can hear the muted sounds of gunfire followed by another thump as another bomb goes off somewhere, there's a crack and I drop about two inches. _Oh what the- the floors collapsing!_

I attempt to get up but I'm still dazed from the explosion, and then the floor gives completely, I tumble down before landing hard onto another floor and sliding across the icy surface. I lay there breathing heavily as the debris settles around me.

My suits medi-gel finally kicks in and the world re-focuses. I slowly stand up bracing myself against the wall, looking around reveals that the way I came down is blocked by rubble, but there is a door to my right. _I must have fallen down to a lower level._

I move my hand to the side of my helmet to activate the radio but stop when I feel something on the side of my helmet I quickly pull my helmet off and inspect it. There is a large piece of metal lodged in the side of my helmet right on the radio controls, I yank the jagged piece of shrapnel out of my helmet and most of the electronics for the radio come with it. I examine the piece of metal for a second before tossing it onto the floor and slipping the helmet back on. _That could have been bad._

_No radio, no map, no nothing… I've got to try and meet back up with Liara. _I look ahead to the only way out of the room I'm in. _Welp you know what they say. _"If you're going through hell, keep going." I shiver a little from the cold. _I wonder if that includes for hell freezing over?_

I check over the rest of my suit for any more surprises, before moving on through the door into a long low, narrow hallway, dimly lit by lights in the floor. Every twenty feet or so is a door, most are frozen over, and the few that I can open lead to small rooms with odd bits of dilapidated furniture.

_Must have been a dormitory wing or something._ I keep moving through several of these long hallways, not finding anything of much interest. Before I come out into a larger room with rows of lockers, walking down the aisles reveals most of the lockers are broken open, their contents wasted away to dust, but I come upon one locker still feebly glowing with power. I grab the handle with my right hand and wait as electricity arcs between my hand and the lock, tugging when the light turns green. I have to yank the door open but the hiss of pressure tells me the airtight seals were still good. Poking around inside the locker reveals what looks to be a few coins, a data disk, a piece of cloth from a scarf or something, and a rifle. I grab the rifle and scan it with my Omni tool.

_Hmmm some kind of particle beam? _I'm tempted to give it a test but holster it for later instead, as well as pocketing the other items for Liara. I walk down to the end of the room where there are several long workbenches; presumably this was an armory or something. I poke around some more finding little on the benches but one of them still has a working terminal, I access it and start looking for anything useful. It's pretty beat up but I'm able to find a bit of weapons data on it, saving it away for use later. There are two doors at this end of the room but one leads up some stairs, so I head that way to try and get back up to the first floor.

As I ascend the stairs I start to hear gunfire, quickening my pace I come to a hallway with weapons fire being traded back and forth. I poke my head out quickly looking both ways, collectors on the right, Sara on the left. I pull out my Mattock and start shooting at the collectors, I almost use a grenade but decide against it for the structural integrity of the ruin, instead throwing an incinerate, it hits the collector dead on and he starts to flail around, and I finish him with a few rounds. Sara gets the other collector with a burst of assault rifle fire, after briefly checking that was the last of them Sara comes over to me.

She starts gesticulating animatedly but I can't hear anything. "Hey" I wave my hand and point to the hole in my helmet. She fiddles with her Omni tool for a second.

"Your radio's dead?" she asks.

"Yeah, nearly took me with it too." I reply.

"I thought that explosion got you for sure, you're a lucky _Bosh'tet _you know that?"

"Aye, but you got separated from the others?"

"Yeah, there was another explosion after the first and the whole hallway collapsed, I got pushed into a side passage, don't know what happened to the others."

"No radio contact?"

"None, I think the ice walls are blocking the comm signals."

I nod "Alright well let's keep moving, we need to find the others and get out of here before this whole place comes down." Just then there's another muted thump and icy dust falls from the ceiling.

"Lead the way."

We keep moving through the compound, there are a lot of collapsed side passages, some look recently closed while others are frozen over with years worth of ice, we are eventually forced downward deeper into the facility, we encounter a few other collectors but it seems they're just as scattered as we are.

The sound of a firefight comes to us from a stairway and we quickly descend to find the source. The room we come out into is a large ante chamber, it is carved into the stone rather than ice, with a grand archway at the far end of the room where the Asari captain Nettrea, and Teshana the sniper are fending off a larger group of collectors coming from the main staircase. We're in a side passage closer to the collector side of the room.

We crouch down in cover behind a collapsed piece of the ceiling, and start firing on the collectors. They are briefly surprised by our sudden appearance but recover and divide their fire. After a few moments of fighting I look over to where the Asari we're while I reload, the captain is exposing herself more often than she should to keep fire on her rather than the more vulnerable sniper, but seems to be doing ok.

I return to the fight with a fresh clip and keep pumping out rounds at the collectors with my Mattock. We start to thin their numbers out when I hear a pained grunt from the end of the room, I look over and don't see Nettrea. When I turn back two of the collectors are charging our position, I grab my knife just as they reach us wielding wicked looking curved blades that I don't remember them having in the game.

One attacks me while the other goes after Sara. I dodge a few swipes and then kick it in the chest, as it staggers back I try to stab it but its exoskeleton stops the blade. I quickly dodge another slash and grab its arm on the next I pull it towards me and stab at its face with my knife hitting one of its eyes. It staggers back injured and I quickly pull my pistol and finish it. _I really need a better melee option._

I look over to Sara in time to see her punch the collector three times before stabbing it in the neck killing it. She replaces the knife into the sheath strapped to her boot.

"Do all Quarians have a knife in their boot?" I ask.

"All the smart ones." She replies.

"Clever"

The collectors are finished; Teshana took out the remaining two while we were in CQC. So we walk over to her end of the room where she's kneeling next to Nettrea.

"Is she-"

"Dead, so are the other two, Kiva was crushed when the passage collapsed and Ciara accidentally collapsed a hallway on herself with her Biotics." She replied emotionlessly.

"Damn, I'm… I'm sorry." I reply lowly.

She stands back up holding a pair of dog tags. "Don't be, it's an occupational hazard, I'd only been with them for a few weeks." She sighs heavily. "Anyway Dr. Tsoni is in the next room, she'll want to know you're ok."

I nod in response and head through the doorway. The next room is large and circular, a platform goes around the outside of the room with three bridges extending over an abyss to reach a platform in the middle with an innumerable number of cords and wires going to it. I step up to the edge and peer over; darkness is all I can see. I let out a low whistle that causes Liara to notice me.

"Jon!" Liara shouts.

I wave back and head across the bridge to where she is standing next to a terminal.

"Jon, you're alright, when I saw the explosion, I… I thought…" Her voice trails off at the end.

"Yeah, it was a bit closer than I'd like to think about." I reply.

"This is a mess, Kiva and Ciara are dead and we haven't seen Sara either."

"Nettrea died in the fighting outside…" I reply grimly. "But I found Sara she's fine."

Liara sighs. "I'm not exactly Shepard am I?"

"I don't think it's fair to compare yourself to that; beside it was my battle plan."

She walks over to the edge of the abyss, and crosses her arms. "I don't know how he does this, it seems impossible to lead people into battle and come out unscathed."

"I don't ever remember coming back 'unscathed' but I get what you mean."

I can see the small smile on her face.

"You… you know what I did for him don't you?"

"Cerberus"

"Yes, I had hoped…"

"They'll pull through, they do in the game, and I can't see something that big being wrong."

"I hope you're right…"

We stand in silence for a while just staring out into nothingness.

"So what is this place?" I ask breaking the silence.

She turns and heads back to the terminal. "It's some kind of data store, in the middle of these terminals there is a container with a high capacity storage device, but I can't get it open, the terminals are damaged and heavily encrypted."

"Let me try." I say stepping up to the container.

It's a large round drum with a circular cap that I'm assuming opens when all three terminals have the right password.

"Whatever is in there was damn important to the Protheans, and dangerous to the Reapers."

I place my right hand on the first terminal.

* * *

*Liara POV*

I watch as Jon walks up to the first terminal as he places his Geth hand on the terminal electricity begins to arc around his arm and into the terminal, after a few seconds there is a 'ding' and a large green check mark appears on the screen. He walks to the next terminal trailing arcs of electricity, doing the same process to the other two terminals. After the last terminal dings her grips and releases his hand and the electricity dissipates.

The container lets out a hiss of pressure and the cap rises revealing a data card suspended between two upright poles, Jon walks up and grabs the card.

* * *

*Knight POV*

The data card is slim maybe a quarter of a centimeter thick and made of a glass-like material with lines like digital connections etched into it. I step back and hand it to Liara.

"You're getting better at that." She says gesturing to the terminals, while opening her Omni tool.

I flex my Geth hand a few times. "Yeah, had a little practice, time to get used to it."

"How is that prosthetic treating you, it doesn't hurt or anything? No phantom pains?"

"Nope, this thing is all me feels just like any other part of my body, if a little differently."

"How so?"

"Well with my organic arm it just feels indistinctly cold here, but with my synthetic arm if 'feels' about two degrees Celsius. I rub my organic hand on a table and it feels smooth, I run my synthetic hand over a table and it has about ten Newtons of frictional force, stuff like that." I reply.

"That much information doesn't bother you, isn't it overwhelming?"

"It's hard to explain, I don't feel any different than I used to it just… is different."

She gives me a huff and return with a shrug.

Her Omni tool pings and she looks to it, face covered with confusion after a second.

"What is it?" I ask.

"The entire chip is filled, something that would equate to several thousand terra bytes of data, with an encryption key."

I look at her blankly for a second.

"The complexity of this is unimaginable; whatever this opens would never be accessible any other way for how complex this key is."

"But it's useless without the other half."

"Yes, but whatever that other half is must be immensely important."

"Hmm, well I suppose it's better to have in case we figure out what it goes to."

"Indeed, it'll take a while because it's simply so massive but once I get back to Illium I can make you a copy, just in case you run into whatever opens without me."

I nod. "Good idea, come on let's get out of here, I've had enough of this place."

She nods and we walk out towards the others.

Back on the ship we've take off and I'm leaning against the wall of the cargo bay half out of my armor when Sara comes over.

I notice her as I pull off my shoulder piece.

"Hey Sara, what up?" I ask.

"I just… wanted to say thanks."

"For what?"

"Treating me like a normal person, helping out in the ruins, take your pick."

I chuckle "No thanks required, it's what I do."

She shrugs. "Still nice to some people care."

I stop for a moment thinking, _Should I? hmmm…_

Lost in thought for a moment she begins to walk away. _Meh damn the consequences._

"Hey" she turns back to me. "How'd you like to be a vigilante?"

* * *

**A/N: Well happy holidays everyone I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**And I was serious up top talk to me.**

**Thanks for reading Jknight out-**


	6. Chapter 6: Back in Black

**A/N: Whew I apologize how long it took to get this chapter done, I really haven't done a whole lot of writing since before Christmas. A lot of stuff has happened, holidays, mid terms ect… but really I still should have had this done sooner, SO really I am sorry. It has been refreshing getting back into this though, and with the new semester I might have a little less homework and I want to do some more writing.**

**Now then onto business, this chapter introduces two new weapons BOTH of which have been rendered in beautiful 3D detail by Rex3cutor (Tom) over on Deviant Art. There is a link to both his and my profile on my author page here, the models he does are absolutely amazing and I cannot urge you enough to go check them out because I can't do them justice with just words.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Back in Black

The warmth of my comforter is the most prevalent feeling as conscious thought begins taking root in my mind, beginning the long process of rousting the cobwebs of sleep from my mind. I slowly sit up shrugging off the warm blanket and look around my room. Light is trying to shine through the faded burgundy curtains hanging across the double window, bathing my room in shallow half-light. Four olive drab green walls, posters of military aircraft, maps of Cyrodil, and a few of my own drawings hang on them. A large brown arm chair sits in front of a large-ish flat screen TV and my Xbox, empty cans and bottles dot the room, evidence of nights past spent gaming. At the foot of the bed is a shitty composite board desk with my laptop on it, similarly cluttered with empty bottles and drawing implements.

Something strikes me as off about all this…

_It must be Saturday since no one woke me up for school._

I get out of bed and walk out into the house in my sleeping attire, a T-shirt and some cotton sweats. Morning light floods into the living room through the large picture window. I walk over and look out on to my street, the day is bright, but quiet. I can't hear anybody in the house, not totally unusual, but not exactly common. I walk into the kitchen, there is no note on the pad left lying around for note type purposes.

I frown. _Hmm maybe they told me last night and I don't remember… what did I do last night?_

Images of heated battle flash through my mind, Asari, Biotics, Ice, explosions, Collectors.

_I must have played Mass Effect._

I dismiss that train of thought, and watch as it departs the station without me. Instead I begin hunting around for breakfast.

Taking my toasted waffle prize back to my room I power up my laptop and open the curtains, taking a second to look out the window, and again I am struck by how quiet it is. An itch bugs me and I scratch the back of my right hand, something about the action feels… wrong however, and I hold up my hand to inspect it. I turn it over slowly, finding nothing out of the ordinary I form my hand into a gun.

"Pow"

Four shots, two glance off the shield but the next two slam into the thugs chest, the force causing him to stagger backwards. Holding a hand to his chest as red rivers begin to run down his chest, the smell of sterile medical offices fills my lungs.

I blink a few times, my hand is still stretched out. _What was that?_

I clench my hand into a fist this time.

The butt of my shotgun slams into a Geth's head, pieces of metal and glass shatter and fly in all directions, sprinkling into the ankle deep water. I turn in time to see Ashley get her arm blown off by a hunter with a shotgun.

I take a sudden breath. _Something isn't right, I… I shouldn't be here… this shouldn't be here._

I flex my right hand opening and closing it, it feels wrong.

Everything is in slow motion, I'm sailing slowly through the air a trail of crimson fluid following in my wake, leading back to the beast holding my arm. Slowly I hit ground and slide into a pillar.

I stagger backwards a step, no I'm not right, something isn't…

Electricity surges through my body as metal and flesh twist and change to fulfill their new duties, synthetic tissue creeps its way across my chest binding the mechanical appendage to my flesh and blood.

I wake with a jolt, covered in sweat. I look around this time finding myself surrounded by workbenches weapons and armor. I run a three fingered hand through my hair, and stop to look at it.

_That's better…_

I swing my legs over the side of the bed. _Damn what the fuck was that all about?_

Someone knocks on my door and my head snaps up as Lyn pokes her head in. "Oh good you are awake, I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about morning training." She says wryly.

"I'll be out in a bit, just let me get dressed."

She nods and the door swooshes closed behind her. I get up and change into a pair of training clothes, loose cargoes, a black T-shirt, one left hand combat glove, and combat boots. My Phalanx hangs off my belt as it always does. With that I walk out into the common area, Sara is sitting on the couch talking to Weaver as the Omega news plays across the TV.

Upon entering the kitchen I spot Garrus.

"You said you had something important to tell me about the mission?" He asks.

After getting back to the base last night I was too tired to do anything more than introduce Sara to the rest of the squad, I barely even shook hands with Garrus's new recruits. Dimitry Kopov and Aleksandr Hohen. I'd have to introduce myself properly today.

"Yeah, later after training." I reply giving him a look that also implies, 'In private'.

He nods taking a swig of his drink, some weird Turian coffee or something. I grab a bottle of water deciding to eat after training, not usually a good idea to jump out of bed eat something then physically exert yourself. With that I head outside where Lyn is standing in her training outfit, the Turian equivalent of a T-shirt, some loose pants, boots, and gloves.

"Siv already going?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"So kind of you to wait up." I say wryly.

"Just wanted to make sure you were around to see me beat you."

"Oh so it's a race you want?"

Her mandibles flex out into a smile.

"GO!"

We take off into the pipework surrounding the base that we use as a makeshift obstacle course.

We walk back into the base around twenty minutes later.

"So who won the race?" Dak asks without even looking from over on the couch.

"Tie" Lyn replies.

"And come on we don't always race." I add.

"No but it is a safe bet to make." He replies catching a credit chit from a disgruntled Weaver.

"Really? You bet on that?" I ask incredulously.

"He started it."

"I don't even know what to say to that…" I speak the next part quietly passing Lyn. "I'm surrounded by imbeciles."

* * *

She chuckles under her breath as we head for the showers.

"So how was the trip?" She asks from the stall next to mine.

"Worst. Vacation. Ever."

"Well I didn't expect you to come back with a Quarian in tow."

"Neither did I."

"Or to be so beat up."

"Yeah I got exploded.. a few times."

"Doing what?"

"Fighting some… aliens, In fact I need to talk to Garrus about that, I'll see you later." I reply quickly ending my shower.

I walk upstairs to Garrus's room, he's sitting in a chair in front of his terminal looking over a few data pads.

"That Quarian girl Sara seems capable, put her through a few paces while you were training."

"Told me she wanted to be a Fleet marine, and I couldn't let her go back to being a slave, just happened that she sized up as a good recruit."

"Worked out in the end I guess, so how's Liara and what happened?"

I close the door behind me, and take a seat on a desk chair he kicks over to me.

"Liara seemed ok, she's doing her information broker thing now. And the mission… shit what didn't happen?" I pause in thought a moment. "She hired a squad of Asari mercs from some Illium company I don't remember the name off, anyway we took a ship out to this frozen planet way out in the middle of nowhere to some well hidden Prothean ruins, but the fucking Collectors beat us to party."

"Collectors? Those are the ones you said started abducting human colonies, the enemies from the next game right?"

"Yeah, they had a small ship and a ton of blasting explosives, they wanted to destroy whatever was hidden in those ruins."

"Did they?"

"No, but it was damn close, we caught em' in the middle of setting the charges, I nearly got obliterated by one. But after that first one went off the whole place started coming apart cause it was made out of ice, we all got split up as different walls and floors collapsed. Eventually made my way towards the center of the ruins, met up with Sara on the way, when we regrouped with Liara It was just her and one of the mercs left, but at the core of the ruins was this big damn computer, normally would have taken ages to crack but I got it open in a snap, had some kind of hyper complex Prothean encryption key. Don't know what it goes to but the fact the Reapers didn't want us to have it makes it valuable, Liara has the original and she made me a copy. So now if we find some kind of secret Prothean Pandora's box, we can open it."

He leans back in his chair. "I can't take my eyes of you for a second can I?"

"Hey! I made it back in one piece! And besides I found a Prothean rifle and some weapons data, gunna sort through it and see what I can do."

He nods at that. "Good, always on the lookout for new tech aren't you?"

"Yeah" I reply shrugging. "Gunna go check It out now, I could use an alternative to carrying all of my guns at once, tinker around see what I can come up with."

"Alright, don't forget to introduce yourself to the other two new guys."

"Right."

I head back out into the upper common room to look for Garrus's recruits, I see one of them in the bunk area so I walk over. He's a moderately tall kinda skinny guy, but looks very attentive.

"Hey, I didn't get to properly introduce myself last night, Names Jonathon Knight." I say offering my right hand.

He looks at it curiously for a moment before grasping it. "Aleksandr Hohen, you're the sub-kommandant, ja?"

"Yeah, so what's your specialty?"

"Light infantry, I'm goot vith submachine guns and pistols, maneuverability, scouting that sort of thing."

"Alright, well besides Garrus's second I'm also the armorer, any technical problems or anything come talk to me, I can fix and modify anything you got."

"Ja? Goot perhaps I'll sving by later."

I nod and start walking away. _Where the hell did Garrus find a German?... Speaking of Germans I wonder where I put Tom's weapons data that could come in handy…_

I head back downstairs looking for the other new squad member. I find him entering one of the unused rooms with a box of supplies, he stops when he notices me.

"Ah greetings you are Jonathon Knight correct?" He speaks with a Russian accent slow and deep he's fairly tall and a well built.

"Yeah, you must be Dimitry Kopov."

He nods. "Come, let me put this stuff down so I can shake your hand."

I follow him into the room and he sets the box down on the counter. The room was previously cluttered with random stuff that was in the base when Garrus commandeered it, but most of it is gone and has been replaced with two medical beds, other medical equipment is laying around and sticking out of boxes.

Dimitry offers me his hand, I take it, he has a very firm, but friendly handshake.

"Good to meet you, Garrus took me on to be doctor for our little band of freedom fighters here."

"Yeah? Good always a little nervous going into battle knowing there's not a proper doctor around."

"Well maybe 'proper' is not right word to describe me, but better than nothing da?"

I smile nervously. "Yeah, better than nothing."

With that I excuse myself and head into my room. Now where was that data I got from Tom?

* * *

One week later…

"What was it you wanted to show me?" Garrus asked standing out behind the base at our makeshift firing range.

"Two new weapons I cooked up." I reply.

I've got two weapons cases laying on the table at this end of the range, Lyn is also standing nearby watching.

"Now this first one is mostly put together from data that me and Tom swapped." I reply reaching into the larger of the two cases.

The gun I pull out is small SMG sized and lightweight.

Codex entry: The MX-35 Chameleon SOPMOD

The MX-35 Chameleon is a middle weapon between an assault rifle and an SMG, lightweight and small this weapon fires slower than most SMGs but also packs a greater punch and more accuracy similar to an assault rifle. This weapon was created by collaboration between Thomas Schüppler and Jonathon Knight, leading to it's various unique abilities. It is named the chameleon due to it's ability to change depending on the combat situation, it can mount multiple different sights, red dot, ACOG, or night vision, it can mount a silencer, a laser, a flashlight, an under barrel 40mm grenade launcher, masterkey shotgun, grip, or thermal clip storage in a large empty rail system under the barrel of the weapon. This weapon is able to effectively perform the roles of several different weapons allowing the wielder to carry one weapon instead of three.

End of entry.

I fire off a few bursts downrange easily hitting the targets.

"Seems like a solid weapon." Garrus says after watching.

"That's not all." I reach into the case and pull out the 40mm grenade launcher, quickly releasing the rail cover and sliding the launcher onto the rail.

I pop open the tube and slide in a high explosive round and take aim.

THUMP

The grenade sails downrange exploding on the target.

I then swap the grenade launcher for the masterkey shotgun, slotting in a thermal clip I fire off four quick shots before the clip fills.

"Well whaddya think?" I ask placing the weapon on the table with the rest of it's attachments.

"It's an excellent weapon, I can see both your and Tom's influence in this, can you make more of them?"

"Sure, I made it because I don't want to be carrying ALL of my guns into battle, plus this." I reply opening the other smaller case, I pull out a two handed pommel with a slim metal strip.

With a flick of the wrist the rod unfolds to it's full length and the blade forges with a hiss.

Codex Entry: The X31-35 Forge Blade

The X31-35 Forge Blade is a relatively simple weapon, similar weapons have been attempted but have never been deemed practical, for example the HVB or High Vibration Blade has similar cutting potential but is heavy and much harder to carry. What makes the Forge Blade different is a unique combination of Jonathon Knight's unique affinity for weapons and recovered Prothean technology.

The blade itself is 145cm long when fully deployed, or 70cm when deployed in its folded form. The blade is made of a flash forged silicon-carbide fabricated by a micro fabricator similar to the ones found in Omni tools, smaller blades have been made by Omni tools, the Omni blade is the most eminent example, but Omni tools have never been able to fabricate such a large weapon in a practical amount of time. The forge blade works by using an innovative design and and Prothean tech, the back of the blade is a long thin metal edge that unfolds to full length from a half length 'sheathed' state, this edge is not used for cutting but instead has small projectors along it that deploy the silicon carbide allowing the blade to be deployed back to front rather than bottom up forging the blade much faster, the second part is the unique mass effect generator salvaged from a Pothean particle rifle which provides the power to fabricate the blade and doesn't need to be replaced or recharged between uses.

The mass effect generator actually overheats during the forging process but does not burn the user as the heat is siphoned up into the blade itself giving it a moderately incendiary effect for about 30 seconds after being drawn, after the core cools down it runs at a continual pace that will not overheat it, to slowly build up an electrical charge on the blade that is then discharged when striking or in the form of a short range Overload attack.

The blade is sharp enough to cut through most modern body armor but remains lightweight due to the lack of a conventional blade, which leads to the 'Bastard' sword design, the blade is light enough to be used effectively with one hand even though it is nearly as long as a two handed sword, but the pommel is long enough to allow it to be used with two hands for more force behind swings. The blade has two deployment forms the full length sword or by keeping the top half of the blade folded a shorter blade can be forged for use as a long knife or short machete, good for silently dispatching armored foes. The sword is shaped similarly to a Katana with a single cutting edge and cut back tip, but is not curved like a Katana. The material also makes the blade resistant to pinching or getting caught in objects, allowing it to easily and quickly be pulled from a body or object it has not cut all the way through.

However, the blade is more brittle than a standard metal blade and if the flat of the blade was ever struck hard it would likely shatter, weapon-fire would also shatter it. It won't break while striking something unless the object is extremely hard but anything other than the cutting edge is susceptible to breaking. This makes the blade weak in an actual sword fight by limiting its blocking ability.

The blade is also uniquely suited to Knight as his resonance allows him to remotely send commands to deploy, or discharge its electrical charge, which means the blade has no buttons or controls on it making it impossible for anyone else to use it.

And no it doesn't make the wooshing sound a lightsaber does.

End of Entry.

I swing the sword around a little before stepping up to an empty propane cylinder. Grasping the blade with both hands I take two swings easily cutting through the cylinder. Then stabbing the blade forward at another cylinder electricity arcs along the blade jumping from the tip to the cylinder and shorting out the electronics causing to beep loudly for a few seconds.

"Well that's certainly… you're style, but do you really think a sword is practical?" Garrus comments.

"How many times has that knife saved my life?"

He shrugs at that conceding my point. "True enough, you do seem to attract those kinds of situations, can you make more of those?"

"No, not one like this I pulled the power core out of that Prothean rifle I found to make this, any core I could make wouldn't be as powerful and would have a battery life unlike this one."

"Hmm, well you've done some good work, you should make a few more of those Chameleons, I suspect a few people will want one."

"I do." Lyn speaks up from her position a few meters away.

"What color?" I ask with a smile.

Garrus just sighs and puts a hand on his face. "Well you should have a chance to test these out soon, we've got our next target."

"Yeah?"

"Now that we have a good size squad and a doctor we're ready to do some real damage, we're going after a slaver named Akaron Vous."

"Alright, let's get to it."

* * *

**A/N: Alright I hope you enjoyed that chapter you can look forward to some action next chapter, which I swear will not take as long as this one to get done (I hope).**

**Thanks for reading Knight out.**


	7. Chapter 7: Let's do the time warp again

**A/N: Ok I think it's about time I cut my losses and got on with it. I've really been floundering with these Omega missions, they've taken forever to do so I'm going to admit defeat and wrap this up, This chapter is going to be an overview skimming over the events leading up to the recruitment mission for ME2 in a Journal like format, I feel like once I get back into writing a plot within the guidelines of ME2 I'll be able to work better. Hopefully this will help facilitate faster updates, and maybe I'll come back and write all of these adventures down someday, but I feel like I bit off more than I could chew going to Omega, but I got a few good chapters out, so I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Let's do the Time Warp Again

Approximately one year to ME2

The takedown of Akaron Vous is our first major victory over an established Omega criminal. The Forge Blade and the new Chameleon perform excellently allowing us to get in quiet, get the job done, and get out. Blowing up the AAA towers, the bases' generator, and taking down the leader essentially rendered the base useless, the amount of capital investment needed to bring it back to working status exceeds anything the Merc groups would be willing to pay. We celebrate our victory back at base, and toast to many more victories.

I've found a lot of good friends in the Omega squad, Siv is a good mate, Sara is cool in a very tom-boy sort of way which is really interesting for a Quarian, and Lyn… Lyn is my comrade, my gaming buddy, and my infiltration partner. She's a good friend.

10 months to ME2

Tali called asking for some help salvaging a derelict Turian frigate, some strange tech had her concerned so she wanted my "unique" expertise with weird tech.

The frigate is in bad shape having taken a major hit in its right engine and the entire forward battery has been blown apart, there isn't anything left of the main gun. Upon examining the ship for a short time I realize this is a very NEW frigate, not an old derelict ship as we had originally thought. On a hunch I call Garrus and ask him to send me any info he could dig up about a fairly new Turian frigate named, Miduna. According to Garrus the ship doesn't exist.

The strange tech Tali was worried about is a weird creep like substance inside the damaged engine bay. There are thick synthetic cables coming out of the engine and moving around the room like roots or vines growing. It's is very slow growth but it IS synthetic, how it is growing at all is baffling. Not to mention continued searches to find info on the ship remain fruitless.

Upon examining the damaged main battery further it appears the majority of the room was actually ripped from the ship by something… I'm beginning to wonder if this is the experimental ship that carried the Thanix cannon we destroyed a while back, if it is how did it get halfway across the galaxy from Omega, and what did this to it?

On a hunch to discover the source of the tech in the engine room Tali and I go out on a space walk to the hole blown through the hull that caused the damage to the engine, inside the hole is the shell that struck the ship, a hollow projectile that contained a glass cylinder protected in a mass effect field, inside the cylinder is a strange white crystal, diamond shaped with four facets on each of two sides with a small hole in the top. After removing the crystal from the damaged shell the synthetic fibers 'died' and were able to be removed by Tali's repair team.

I've strung the crystal onto a chain and hang it around my neck along with my dogtags. I'm not entirely sure why.

With the strange tech removed Tali's team is able to restore full power to the ship. I'm able to access the ships logs and discover it is the ship that had the Thanix cannon on it. Although that is confirmed it sheds no light on how the mercs got the cannon or where the weird tech came from.

8 Months to ME2

During the takedown of a Major Blue Suns tech officer I find files on his computer regarding the Thanix cannon, stating that the mercs bought the wrecked cannon from a small group of rouge Cerberus scientists for an absurd amount of money.

I shouldn't be surprised that Cerberus is involved in this but we still have no idea how _they _got the cannon, and why and when the scientists went rouge is a mystery. Did these rouge Cerberus scientists find something and they attacked the frigate? Or did these scientists just sell the wreck after the main Cerberus got it, and they were just trying to get a shit ton of credits out of it?

6 Months to ME2

One of the rouge scientists that sold the cannon wreck is hiding with the Blue Suns, paying them to protect him. We broke into the compound a few minutes ahead of the Cerberus team sent to kill him. The entire base was chaos, Suns, Cerberus, and us all duking it out. We got to the scientist before Cerberus and were able to interrogate him a little bit. We got out of him that Cerberus had found the Miduna wrecked and drifting in space, they had taken the Thanix cannon but had not known about the crystal. That was when the Cerberus team broke in still fighting the Suns, Dak was killed in the fighting and I got half my left calf bitten off by a Varen.

Dimitry doesn't know if I'll regain full use of my calf. After Lyn helped me back to my room to rest I mixed omni-gel with medi-gel and spread that over the wound before re-bandaging it.

Lyn came in again later after everyone had gone to bed. She was mourning over the loss of Dak, we all were, but she sought me out so we could deal with the pain together. We stayed up late talking, reminiscing over past missions. She fell asleep in my arms, it's getting hard to keep lying to her about who I really am.

The next morning my leg was sore but functional, a faint synthetic texture could be seen beneath the skin of my calf, I kept it bandaged and walked with a slight limp for a while to hide the miraculous recovery time, I told Garrus though.

4 Months to ME2 

Omega has its own… unique beauty, the kind that you can only really appreciate sitting high above the hub-bub of daily life looking out over the vast red city. Lyn and I were sitting high up on a cooling tower, we had gotten there as a free running exercise, and stopped to catch our breath.

I decided to tell her about my Resonance. She took it pretty well, kind of irritated that I had waited so long to tell her, but understood why I was cautious with it. And she had kind of guessed that something was up with me.

I told her that wasn't the only secret I had, but that I didn't want to tell her, didn't want to burden her with it. She was confused about that but told me that I could tell her anything. I didn't though, not yet, I fear what she might think of me if I told her, based on how well I know her my fears seem irrational, she's very cool headed and doesn't react rashly, but you never really know I guess.

But I'm probably just being an idiot.

2 Months to ME2

The squad is dwindling down a bit, we haven't gained any new members, but Dak died, and Weaver and Rellan have both left. Rellan decided she wanted to become a real police officer, went to Illium, told her talk to Liara if she needed help with anything and to tell Liara she was a friend to me. Rellan really opened up with the squad, having lived on Omega all her life she hadn't really thought good existed, I think she'll make an excellent cop.

Weaver was a pretty old Salarian to begin with, nearing the end of his life he wanted to take what he learned from several years' operating vehicles on Omega and give it to STG to improve their own vehicles and driving techniques. The list of modifications, rough patches and sheer number of vehicles he's seen and driven have made him an expert.

But I've not heard a thing about Sidonis, I'm wondering if anything is going to happen at all or if Shepard will just be able to walk in and recruit us.

Wouldn't that be something? A no fuss recruitment, that'd be a first.

ME 2 Imminent

I lean on the railing of the base's second story window, looking out over our little piece of Omega. Garrus walks up next to me.

"You know it's been about two years now." He says.

"Yup, Shepard could arrive any day now."

"And we aren't fighting for our lives."

"We aren't, haven't even heard the name Sidonis."

"So… what happens then?"

"Shepard walks up and we shake his hand."

"Do you really believe it will be that easy?"

"Not a chance, I'm sure something will happen." I reply with a smirk.

"Something always seems to happen doesn't it?"

"Especially when Shepard is involved." We both chuckle at that.

"What are we going to do when Shepard gets here? We can't just up and leave." Garrus asks leaning on the railing.

"Why not? I think Siv is plenty capable of taking over, they'll have to recruit some new members but the squad isn't just us, and it's not like we're abandoning them, we can still help them even with Shepard."

"True enough, but they'd be down to three people."

"Four."

"Do you seriously believe Lyn would stay here? She'll go with you."

"Maybe." He just stares at me.

"You really care for her don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah I do."

"Was she in the games?"

"No, there weren't any female Turians in either of the games."

"That seems like a strange oversight to make."

"Yeah-"

"HEY!"

We both turn towards the stairs to where Lyn is standing.

"Aria just sent us a call, Shepard is in a shootout with the mercs at the docking bay near Afterlife."

Garrus and I look at each other before shoving off the railing towards the armory.

"Siv is still out on recon and Dimitry is still patching up Alek from our last mission." Lyn says as we all start gearing up in the armory.

* * *

"Just us then, we'll have to do."

We grab our gear and head down to the garage and jump into the aircar. Garrus takes us up and out of the garage and rockets off towards Afterlife. Garrus's driving is kind of like someone waving around an empty gun, you're still afraid it's going to go off in your face, but you know it won't. Always gets my adrenaline going.

As we approach Afterlife Garrus slows the car down and we take a slow cruise around the shootout to determine the best plan of attack.

"Garrus let me down on top of that building over there, I'll cover you two." I say pointing to a two story warehouse.

Garrus slides the aircar about a meter over the rooftop allowing me to jump out. I pull out my Widow and set up on the edge of the building, and start scanning the firefight with more attention to detail. Shepard appears to be holed up in a cargo loading bay about 300 meters away from my position, I can see weapon fire and biotics coming out of the building intermittently, but I can't see who's actually in there. The mercs however have no idea I'm here yet, there are quite a few of them spread out in cover around the cargo bay, of course they're only covered from the front.

As Garrus sets the aircar down behind the mercs I take aim at one of the Blue Suns officers near the back of the group. The satisfying thump of the Widows' recoil is a familiar feeling, and the mercs' head exploding into bits of bone and blood is a familiar sight.

"Scoped and dropped!"

"Oh will you quit it with that already?!" Garrus growls through the comm.

"Not a chance." I reply smiling inside my helmet.

I hear the sigh through the comm but have to imagine the eye roll.

The mercs are suddenly aware they have been outflanked and begin to divert their attention between Shepard's squad and us three. I can hear frantic shouting for backup as well as calls of Archangel, and _The Specter. _While Garrus's nickname has come from the people we've helped, my nickname has been graciously provided by the mercs based on my helmet, stealth and sniper work.

The fight is now definitely in our favor but the mercs have hunkered down deciding to wait for reinforcements rather than actually fight us, there are still to many of them for us to storm their position however so Garrus and I are trying to pick them off with sniper fire, while Lyn tries using her biotics to force them out of cover. But it's taking too long and it's beginning to look like we'll be fighting reinforcements.

Right on cue two Blue Suns shuttles fly overhead, I turn to look where they're going to land.

"JON! SNIPER!" Lyn shouts through the comm.

I jerk my attention back to the pinned mercs and see a sniper barrel leveled at me, I jerk to the side but just too late.

The bullet impacts my helmets' right optic shattering the glass and continuing through grazing my right eye and blowing out the side of my helmet. The impact knocks me unconscious for a few moments, when I come too I'm lying face down in a small pool of blood, my right eye won't open and my helmets' HUD is fizzing out.

I groan in pain and roll over behind an AC unit and push myself up so I'm leaning my back up against it. I gingerly pull off my helmet hissing in pain as it scrapes past my injury, I'm bleeding pretty bad and my right eye won't open.

_Fuck this is bad…_

A slight glow catches my attention, the crystal hanging around my neck is glowing slightly, some of the blood from my injury has run down my face and onto the crystal and it is beginning to glow a faint blue. I grab it and with a quick tug break it off the chain and bring it up to look at it.

The previously white crystal is now stained with blood that was on my hand and glows an icy blue. As I look at it the glow grows brighter and brighter until I'm forced to close my un-injured eye.

And suddenly I'm floating in darkness, there is a motionless figure in front of me clad in black armor. Icy blue code flows across the body except around it's right eye where the code is frayed and broken, glowing an angry red. I look at the shard glowing blue in my hand and back up, where Spark is suddenly standing next to me.

"Long time no see Resonant." Spark greets, as last time the fully mechanical woman's striking appearance captures my attention briefly, the intricacy of the innumerous mechanical parts that make up her person and clothing are astounding.

"Yeah…" I reply slowly.

"Cog is very cryptic with his workings and paths but has told me of that." She says pointing to the glowing crystal in my hand.

"And it is..?"

"A resonant shard, a piece of another powerful resonant's power, left in crystal form to help another resonant who finds it."

"And that's helpful here?"

"Indeed." Is all she says stepping back into the darkness.

Sigh.

I look at the crystal glowing in my hand and back up at the injured figure. I clench my hand into a fist crushing the crystal, blue electricity arcs out of the crystal and around my hand. I bring it up to the damaged code and the electricity jumps from my hand to the damaged code, smoothing it out and re-writing the missing code. When it ends the code is back to its icy blue, but there is a clear scar starting at the bridge of the nose going across the eye and ending just below the ear.

The figure suddenly jolts up revealing its ghastly smile.

I suck in a sudden breath. Only my left eye is open but when I reach up to touch my face there is a bandage wrapped over my right eye. I breathe deeply for a few moments re-orienting myself. The sound of gunfire is still present below, I glance out around my cover and see Garrus and Lyn pinned down in their cover trying to take on both groups of mercs, fire is still coming from the cargo bay where Shepard's squad was as well.

I slowly grab my Widow and sling it onto my back, as well as my wrecked helmet. I move over to the side of the building and take a ladder down to ground level. I can't get to Garrus and Lyn's position without exposing myself but I can get on the reinforcing mercs flank. I move over towards the end of the alley next to the warehouse and see a Turian crouched behind some stray containers.

"Hey! What are you doing?" I shout at him pointing my Phalanx at him, it takes me a second to aim properly using the laser pointer.

"Whoa! Hey I just got stuck here trying to get to Afterlife!" He says, and indeed he appears to be unarmed.

I sit down against the cover he's hiding behind and start pulling out a grenade.

"So are you one of the mercs?" He asks.

"… Something like that yeah."

"I was headed to Afterlife to tell Aria I found Archangels base!" He says excitedly.

"Really?" I ask skeptically.

"Yeah, it's way out at the edge of the industrial zone, I figured Aria would pay good money for that info."

"Probably… What's your name?"

"Sidonis"

BANG

He slumps over with a hole in his forehead. _That takes care of that._

I continue priming the grenade. I peek up over my cover to get a look at the mercs position. They are pretty tight together due to the confined quarters of the spaceport, and there are several canisters and tanks lying around that likely contain volatile substances. Perfect.

I lob the grenade high so it lands right in the middle of their formation, only a few of them notice it but it's too late for them. I crouch back down into cover as the grenade goes off, followed by several secondary explosions as various bits of cargo explode. I peek back up over, several mercs are down and don't appear to be getting back up, but there are still quite a few left.

_Ah shit._

Gunfire suddenly erupts from behind the mercs position and I see Commander John Shepard vault over a railing and rush towards the mercs position firing assault rifle all the way. He is followed close behind by Mordin, Miranda, and… Legion?

With the added bonus of Shepard's squad they quickly mop up the mercs, I just stay in cover because I can't shoot straight without my right eye. But soon enough the fighting stops and I come out from my hiding spot.

"JON!"

I look over towards where Garrus and Lyn were hiding just in time to be bulldozed by Lyn, she nearly knocks me off my feet in an embrace.

"Jon! Are you alright?" She pulls back looking me over and immediately noticing the bandage.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine." I say with a smile.

She gently runs a talon over the bandage, and looks at me worriedly.

"Really, I'll be fine, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve." I say tapping the side of my head with my right hand, she seems to catch my meaning.

"How come you didn't answer your damn radio?" Garrus says a bit angry.

I toss my helmet at him, he catches it and flips it over to the face side Inspecting the damage including the missing earpiece.

"Spirits Jon that's a little close."

"You're tellin me."

"Knight?" comes a voice from behind me.

I turn to see Shepard and his squad approaching.

I spread my arms in greeting. "No it's the Muffin man!"

He shakes his head with a smile. "Why am I not surprised to find you here?"

Garrus takes off his helmet too and comes over.

"It's damn good to see you Shepard."

"You too Garrus."

"Hey" I say getting their attention as a perplexed frown comes to my face. "If you came from over there, then who was in the cargo bay?"

We all look over towards the cargo bay to see Amarantha Shepard slowly walking out with a slight limp.

"Em?" Shepard says, before running over to her.

"John is that really you?" She says as he reaches her.

"Yeah, it's… a long story."

"It always is with you isn't it?"

"I'd like to hear what you're doing here if that one isn't too long."

"Yeah that one could go on for a little while." She says scratching the back of her head.

"Then we'll have to wait til' we get back to the Normandy to exchange stories."

He turns back to us. "Are you two up for a suicide mission?"

Garrus and I share a look. "Anytime boss."

He deflates a little out of 'serious' mode. "Good I could really use you two on this one."

Lyn makes a coughing noise. "You wouldn't happen to need any more volunteers would you?"

Shepard aims a questioning glance at me and Garrus.

"This is Talyn Gorrets, Biotic, infiltrator, and field medic." I say.

"John Shepard." He introduces himself shaking her hand. "You'd like to join my crew?"

"I would, I've heard a lot about you from these two, and I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't with them."

"She's an excellent soldier, and I think separating these two lovebirds just might break their little hearts." Garrus says with a cocky grin.

I punch him in the shoulder and immediately regret it since he's wearing armor. He starts to laugh when Lyn yanks on one of his fringes eliciting a sudden yelp from him.

Shepard is smiling at the whole thing. "Welcome aboard Talyn."

"Please, just Lyn." She says.

He nods.

Miranda steps in. "Shepard we only have a dossier for Archangel."

"So?" He says wearing a look that shows exactly how much he cares.

She backs off. "Shall we head back to the ship then?" She says stiffly.

"Do you have things to get?" He asks us.

"Yeah, bring a shuttle to this location in about an hour." Garrus says bringing up his omni tool. "Make sure no one knows where you go."

* * *

I'm in the armory putting weapons into cases and packing up other equipment and personal affects. I'm leaving behind most of the large equipment because the squad will still need it and the Normandy will have whatever I need. Garrus is talking to Siv about taking over the squad, Shepard showed up a little while ago and was talking to the squad.

The door opens with a neumatic hiss and Shepard walks in.

"Hey Boss."

He nods. "You know I found your little message at the Normandy's crash site."

"Yeah?"

He tosses me my missing dog tag. I catch it and look at what had been my blank dog tag.

_Still alive Mutherfucker_

I slip the tag over my head.

"That was a surprise."

"Heh, just a reminder that not everyone aboard that ship died."

"That's where we found Legion."

"I was wondering when you picked him up, in the game he's the last member to join."

He nods leaning against one of the workbenches. "It'll be good to have some familiar faces around again, how has the timeline held up so far?"

"Well you don't hear a lot about Garrus's squad in the game but they aren't dead so that's different."

"So things are changing"

"Big time."

"How's the eye? Are you going to be good for fighting?"

"Yeah, resonant thing fixed it, I'll be fine."

Lyn walks in right then. "Oh, hello Commander, You need any help Jon?"

"I will in a second here, got a lot of stuff to take."

"I figured you would."

"So…?" Shepard says.

"She knows I'm resonant."

"But I don't know his other secret." Lyn says with a smirk. "Speaking of which how's your eye?"

"I'll leave you two alone." Shepard says walking out of the room.

"Does he think we're going to have some kind of 'moment?" Lyn asks me.

"I think he wanted to avoid carrying something."

She giggles.

= = Lyn POV = =

I reach out to start removing the bandages covering his eye, unwinding them from around his head. They aren't bloody which is a good sign, and when I finally fully unravel them he looks almost the same. But there is a long white scar going from the bridge of his nose to just under his ear, and his eyes are different. Before they were a light brown but now… Both of his eyes are the icy electric blue that seems to permeate all of his equipment, his left eye is exactly the same as it was but blue instead of brown, but his right eye is different, the veins look like red coding on the white of his eye. The iris is a hundred tiny facets of icy blue that move and slide over each other to form a nictating lens around his pupil, which has a further lens within it barely visible, spinning, widening and closing. It has to be the most intricate piece of technology I have ever seen.

= = Jon POV = =

I smile at the look on her face as my synthetic eye fully comes on line and begins to bring up data on various pieces of equipment lying around the room. I blink and the artificial HUD disappears.

"Come on let's get this stuff onto the Normandy, we've got one hell of a ride ahead of us." I say with a smile.

End of Book 2

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**A/N: We'll resume with Book three ****Resonance Effect 2. ****I hope you've enjoyed this, and I hope you'll like the third book as well. I appreciate all of you that have stuck with me through these atrocious update times and continue to read this.**

**-Jknight**


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